top tips to build student teams that excel
TRANSCRIPT
Top tips to build student teams that excel
Tom O’Neill, PhD
Associate Professor
Individual and Team Performance (ITP) Lab
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Welcome
Webinar series by University of Calgary scholars
Information presented is a summary of the scholars’ research
Thomas O’Neill
Associate Professor of industrial and
organizational psychology
Leading expert in the areas of assessment,
team dynamics, distributed teams, conflict
management, personality, and flexible work
Has worked with student teams and
organizations in oil and gas, healthcare,
technology, government, and venture
capitals.
Director of:
Individual and Team Performance Lab
Virtual Team Performance, Innovation,
and Collaboration Lab
ITP Lab
Mission: Growing Your People and Ours
Vision: A world in which all teams and team members reach their full potential
Goal: To influence the teamwork capabilities of 100,000 people in the next three years
Research pillars
• Traditional teams
• Distributed teams
• Resuscitation teams
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Agenda
Team conflict
S.U.I.T. technique
Tips for creating high performing teams
ITP tools
3 Types of Conflict
Task conflict
Disagreements about: Viewpoints
Ideas
Opinions
Perspectives
Related to the
CONTENT of the TASK
Process conflict
“Being on the same page about how the work will get done and who will do it”
Disagreements about:
Deciding on plans for task execution, timelines
Assigning member roles and responsibilities
Relationship conflict
Interpersonal…
Tension
Friction
Annoyance
Animosity
Resentment
…among team members
I can’t
work like
this!
You are
impossible!
I can’t work
like this!
Team conflict profiles
Student engineering design teams doing course project
Sample 1: 195 teams
Validation sample: 92 teams
Sample 2: 177 teams
1,454 total participants in Intro ENGG U of C and UWO
O’Neill, T. A., McLaron, M. J. W., Hoffart, G.C., Woodley, H. J., & Allen, N.J. (in press). The structure and function of team conflict profiles. Journal of Management.
Profiles of team conflict types
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Me
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core
Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
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core
Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
The “Ideal”
c
Profiles of team conflict types
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core
Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
The “Runner Up”
Profiles of team conflict types
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Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
The “Could Be Worse”
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Profiles of team conflict types
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Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
The “Ineffective”
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Profiles of team conflict types
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Team Type
Task Conflict
RelationshipConflict
ProcessConlfict
Profiles of team conflict types
We want to see teams move away from the Ineffective profile
And closer to the Ideal
Constructive controversy
A 4-step communication technique teams can use to be more effective.
“S.U.I.T” Up
1.Share
2.Understand
3.Integrate
4.Team Decision
Training
Training:TheoryBrainstorming taskRole play activity“Survival exercise”SUIT contract
Booster:Write reflection assignment on these questions:
1. A task conflict and how it was resolved?2. A process conflict and how it was resolved?3. A relationship conflict and how it was resolved?4. How was SUIT used?5. What profile is the team in?
O’Neill, T. A., Hoffart, G. C., McLarnon, M. J. W., Woodley, H. J., Eggermont, M., Rosehart, W., & Brennan, R. (2017). Constructive controversy and reflexivity training promotes effective conflict profiles and outcomes in student learning teams. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 16(2), 257-276.
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Ineffective Could Be Worse Runner Up Ideal
2012
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Training
Team conflict profiles training
Could we actually train teams to be better?
O’Neill, T. A., Hoffart, G. C., McLarnon, M. J. W., Woodley, H. J., Eggermont, M., Rosehart, W., & Brennan, R. (2017). Constructive controversy and reflexivity training promotes effective conflict profiles and outcomes in student learning teams. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 16(2), 257-276.
Tips – It takes a systems approach
Team Development
Team Building
Cultivate Psychological Safety (hidden slide)
Meeting Checklist
Group Size
Create Interdependence / team task design
Forming Teams (hidden slide)
Team building
Team “building”
Accelerate the relationship building process
Complete a self-awareness inventory and discuss results• Personality, conflict management styles
Complete a team contract• Shared norms, expectations, rules, and SOPs
• SUIT: Share, Understand, Integrate, Team Decision
ITP Lab team contract
Team development
Team “development”
Enhance the team’s capabilities over time
Complete team assessments Overall team dynamics, peer feedback, leadership
Complete a team charter Mission, Vision, Values, Strategy, Goals
Who we are, where we’re going, principles we live by, high level approach accomplish goals, specific goals and who is accountable
Creates space for discussions that promote clarity, adjustment, performance, and satisfaction
Meeting checklist
Start on Time
What is the purpose of the meeting?
Provide updates on tasks from previous meeting(s)
Stay focused and on time
Take notes
Assign tasks and due dates to each person
At the end of the meeting:
Summarize all decisions and tasks
Schedule follow up meeting
Group size
Rule of thumb: Smaller is better
• Have enough to accomplish the workload
• Have the expertise required
Keep groups midsized (4-5 people)
• Groups with less than that may not have enough diversity and divergent thinking
• Groups with more than that may create room for social loafing, diffusion of responsibility
• Depends on task, timeline
Create interdependence
Design projects that are sufficiently complex that students must collaborate in order to succeed
• Also exciting, meaningful projects
Create group goals or projects that can only be met through collaboration
• An essay where everyone writes and independent section is often not a great engaging team task
Ensure team members are using project management tools (if even an Excel file) with major milestones and accountabilitiesShare on web-based collaboration platform
ITP Metrics assessments
Report example
Peer feedback
Peer feedback
FACTs: How to give effective feedback
F Future Oriented
A Accurate
C Caring Tone
T Target Behaviour
SET components
Scripts about Leadership
Expressed Humility
Transformational Leadership
Report example
Conflict management styles
Concern for others
Co
ncern
fo
r S
elf
Personality
Report example
Takeaways
There are 3 types of conflict
Teams are receptive to training
Evidence based tips and tools exist
The structure and design of the team task is more important who is in the student team
• There will probably always be some who do not engage
ITPmetrics.com provides:• Team, leadership, self-awareness development
assessments, feedback, and activities for FREE
Would love to hear from you, help you.
Thank you
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